Journal 101

4-26-10

Something of a boring day to report here -- we were on the Train all day. -- I told you this was a 30 hour, one way, train ride, yes?

So, what did I do today? I --

-- Learned to play "Durak" (Idiot/Fool) -- a Russian card game. (I'm still not sure how the rules work, exactly; but I'm mostly there. Granted, my explanation came on the fly, in Russian -- so I think I can be forgiven for that some, huh?)

-- Put a HUGE dent in "The Three Musketeers"

This is throwing some people for a loop, who see how far I am into it now, but I simply LOVE this book! Normally I am slightly afraid to read the "classics," because I am afraid that they will be full of dry, tedious, extra language -- which absolutely bores me to tears. Hence why I don't like Dickens, or "The House of the Seven Gables" [Hawthorne], ad nauseum. But Monsieur Dumas!! He doesn't bore me at all, and I find myself hanging onto every word!! I am simply devouring this book.

If I have any disappointment with it at all, it is only that the Musketeers all have Mustaches… Not that I have anything against wearers of mustaches! … It's just that I am not personally fond of mustaches myself… *laughs sheepishly*

-- Bid "Adieu" ("Proshaite" -- Russia's version of, "Good bye, forever.") to Valentine

-- Taught Tatyana, Anya, and Svetlana how to play Rummy

(While also trying to explain that it was similar to Mah Jong -- the real version of which is NOT a matching game on the computer!)

-- Put more of a dent in "The Three Musketeers" -- but then lost a book marker noting a particular quote!!!! I was so cross!! The marker I lost was denoting something that seemed an almost exact repetition of something I once saw that Oscar Wilde wrote. (I.e. -- It seemed like something Oscar had lifted!)

And that is the story of, "The Day on the Train." -- We'll arrive in Sochi around 6 some-odd AM tomorrow.